In this episode I have the honor of getting to meet Dr. Crystal Cavalier a strong Community Organizer who has utilized her education and background to defend both environmental and human rights. Dr. Crystal A. Cavalier-Keck is a citizen of the Occaneechi Band of the Saponi Nation and lives in Mebane, North Carolina. She is an Adjunct Professor in the Social Sciences department at Salem College in Winston Salem. She is an expert in her field of strategic intelligence and cyber security. Crystal formerly worked as a Counterintelligence Analyst with the Department of Defense and a Senior Analyst with the Department of Homeland Security.  Crystal Cavalier was the 2012 Camp Lejeune Heroes at Home winner and was the 2011 Army Spouse of the Year by Military Spouse Magazine. Crystal co-founded 7 Directions of Service, an indigenous grassroots environmental nonprofit.

Crystal has dedicated the past 5+ years to defending her homelands against the Mountain Valley Pipeline/Southgate Extension. Crystal received the 2022 FracTracker Community Sentinel Award for Environmental Stewardship. She is leading a campaign to bring Rights of Nature laws to NC to protect the waterways and communities in the pipeline's path.  Crystal co-authored NC House Bills 795 and 923, the Rights of Nature/Rights of the Haw River, prioritizing environmentally impacted communities around the watershed. Crystal serves on the boards of Movement Rights and the Haw River Assembly. Crystal is a Sequoyah Fellow with the American Indian Science and Engineering Society and a lifetime member of the National Congress for American Indians.

Finally, Crystal has conducted training along and around the East Coast on Coordinated Tribal/Community Response for emergency management through natural, cyber, or man-made disasters.